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I've been following this and had heard it would be a launched RMC woodie. Glad to finally see some real evidence! This is going to be an amazing coaster.

I also want to say how excited I am that they are putting a roller coaster in the front of the park. All of Dollywood's coasters are pretty much lined up one after the other in what I call "Coaster Alley" in the back of the park, one after the other. So, it's great to see one go in somewhere else and in a well theme'd area.

Waking up fresh every mornin'; Openin' up for you; Waitin' for your laughter; With so much new to do! Busch—Gardens! Busch—Gardens! Come to Busch Gardens and come to life! Come to Busch Gardens and come—to life! Contact Me:Private Message|Email|Twitter|Coaster Count

ScreamScape.com Wrote:Internet Fun - (6/18/15) Sounds like we can narrow down all the Rocky Mountain Construction coaster projects for 2016 to three states, Tennessee, Kentucky and California. RMC has posted that they are seeking to hire surveyors to work on coaster projects in those three states, starting immediately and specifically in Pigeon Forge, TN. (ahem… Dollywood). If the rest of the rumors are true, then we would see projects unfold in Kentucky Kingdom (transforming Twisted Twins) and at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in California for a transformation of Roar. There is also a final California rumor that would place RMC at Knott’s Berry Farm to place Topper Track on GhostRider, but as that job could possibly just be track replacement only, I thinking they may not need the services of a surveyor for that unless there was structural work to be done.

I really can't wait to watch this project unfold. This and Kentucky Kingdom's project are going to be the highlight of the 2016 Construction projects for me. Oh and Vortex West's floorless conversion but to a much smaller degree.

Waking up fresh every mornin'; Openin' up for you; Waitin' for your laughter; With so much new to do! Busch—Gardens! Busch—Gardens! Come to Busch Gardens and come to life! Come to Busch Gardens and come—to life! Contact Me:Private Message|Email|Twitter|Coaster Count

ScreamScape has some construction photos, looks like just basic site work and earth moving.

Waking up fresh every mornin'; Openin' up for you; Waitin' for your laughter; With so much new to do! Busch—Gardens! Busch—Gardens! Come to Busch Gardens and come to life! Come to Busch Gardens and come—to life! Contact Me:Private Message|Email|Twitter|Coaster Count

PIGEON FORGE —
Dolly Parton and Dollywood officials will announce the theme park's newest ride Friday during a special event.

Slated for the Jukebox Junction area, the ride will be a wooden roller coaster themed around 1950s and 1960s hot rod cars. It is set to open in March 2016.

It marks the largest investment into a single attraction in the history of the park, likely costing more than $21 million, Dollywood's Public Relations Director Pete Owens said.

The ride will use urethane wheels on a steel railing. It will be the first wooden coaster in the world to use launch technology, Owens said.

Previously, the power demand to launch a wooden coaster was too great for launch technolgy to be feasible, but the energy costs associated with this ride are much lower.

Brian Dudash, vice president over maintenance and construction at Dollywood, emphasized that the roller coaster will be a smooth ride.

"When you think of a wood coaster, you might think of it being a rough ride, but it's the latest version of a wood coaster," Dudash said. "It's not a traditional wood coaster."

Owens said he believes the new attraction will get attention worldwide.

"My belief is, this ride is going to be among the one or two most anticipated rides in our industry," he said. "I think people will look at this ride and be very interested to see how it turns out, what the ride experience is, and we believe it will be a very unique, very thrilling experience."

The company constructing the project, Rocky Mountain Construction, is a new partner with Dollywood. One of the engineers working on the project designed the Tennessee Tornado ride at Dollywood while working at another company.

This project has been in the works for more than a year. Construction takes about nine months, and there was a lengthy process of determining the attraction's specifics.

Choosing a new attraction and its theme is a complicated process, both Dudash and Owens said.

"It's more complex than the political process," Dudash joked.

"We know the traffic flow of our guests, and we have a good idea of what is popular in the park," Owens said. "So that allows us an opportunity to go after things our guests are interested in, and try to find innovative products and unique experiences."

Officials at the company also had input, including Parton.

The name of the ride has not been revealed. It is expected to be announced Friday.

The ride is the latest component of the $300 park investment announced by Parton in 2013. Previous parts of the investment were the FireChaser Express roller coaster, which opened in 2014, and the DreamMore Resort, which opened last month.

(08/07/15 01:58am)MAZ Wrote: Sweetness! The most interesting part of that is the bit about the Tennessee Tornado engineer working on this. Wouldn't that make him an Arrow engineer? Old school sweetness!

Waking up fresh every mornin'; Openin' up for you; Waitin' for your laughter; With so much new to do! Busch—Gardens! Busch—Gardens! Come to Busch Gardens and come to life! Come to Busch Gardens and come—to life! Contact Me:Private Message|Email|Twitter|Coaster Count